ZimGreenCo and Dolcin Trading have signed a 25-year power purchase agreement for a 50-megawatt solar plant in Zimbabwe, marking a key step in developing one of the country's largest grid-connected renewable energy projects.
The agreement, signed at the Africa Energy Forum in Cape Town, will see ZimGreenCo buy electricity generated by the solar photovoltaic plant near Chegutu and supply it to large industrial consumers in Zimbabwe.
The project is being developed by South African renewable energy company Sigma Solar Africa through Dolcin Trading, a Zimbabwean special purpose vehicle established for the project.
The deal builds on a Systems Operations Agreement signed in 2024 between GreenCo's Zimbabwean subsidiary, ZimGreenCo Power Services, and the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC), which allows privately generated electricity to be wheeled through the national grid.
The 50MWac facility, located in Mashonaland West Province, is expected to rank among Zimbabwe's largest grid-connected independent power producer (IPP) projects.
Zimbabwe has increasingly turned to private-sector investment in renewable energy to address chronic power shortages that have constrained industrial output and economic growth.
ZimGreenCo managing director Lion Mashiri said the agreement demonstrated the viability of an open-access electricity market in Zimbabwe.
“We have always believed that Zimbabwe's energy security will be built on partnership rather than public purse alone, and on markets that let private power move to where it is needed,” Mashiri said.
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"This agreement shows that an open-access regime can work in practice: a privately developed solar plant, a creditworthy offtaker, and the national utility each playing their part."
Under the arrangement, GreenCo will purchase power from Dolcin Trading and pay ZETDC for system operation services required to transmit the electricity to customers.
Dolcin Trading director Gareth P. Warner said the long-term offtake agreement would help secure financing for the project.
“A 25-year offtake agreement with a creditworthy buyer is what makes a project of this scale financeable,” Warner said.
“GreenCo's structure gives our investors and lenders the long-term revenue certainty they need and allows the project to advance towards construction and the delivery of clean power to Zimbabwean consumers.”
Sigma Solar Africa develops renewable energy projects across Southern Africa, including solar, wind, hydro and biomass facilities.
ZimGreenCo Power Services (Private) Limited is the Zimbabwean-based operating company of Africa GreenCo (GreenCo), through which GreenCo conducts its trading and system operations activities in Zimbabwe.
